


An Easy Explanation

by Abstract_Thoughts



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Biting, Body Horror, Cuddles, Eye Trauma, Ghosts, M/M, flirting with social anxiety spoilers, janus living his best life, passing mention of sex, remus being absolutely disgusting, seriously the graphic violence warning is him, we are Projecting the intrusive thoughts baybie
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:13:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26948011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Abstract_Thoughts/pseuds/Abstract_Thoughts
Summary: Nico isn't blind, he's noticed the little things.Problem is, he thinks the Sides are ghosts.But, like... It is an easy explanation. Right?
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil & Creativity | Roman & Logic | Logan & Morality | Patton, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Deceit | Janus Sanders, Thomas Sanders/Nico Flores
Comments: 28
Kudos: 299





	An Easy Explanation

So.

Thomas Sanders was haunted.

And perhaps that would sound ridiculous to someone who had not been dating the man for about 2 months and had sat up in Instagram DMs discussing theories with Joan, but Nico had done both of those.

And also seen it with his own eyes.

Thomas’ hair was often mussed, like someone had just kind of. Put their hand on it and _shook_. Things would go missing, his clothes were out of place, things moved on their own, occasionally Thomas would talk to people who were not there, and Nico swore he saw the reflection of a man who would look just like Thomas if not for the dual coloured eyes, long bangs, and deep, heavy eye bags.

And also eyeshadow? Did this person know that eyeshadow traditionally goes on the lid?

Perhaps it was best not to judge.

And the ghosts did appear to be benevolent- except for whoever kept stealing cleaning products and biting the soap, though Thomas seemed exacerbated about that at most- so he really didn’t say anything.

At least until he made eye contact with the one in the tie in the hallway mirror.

Thomas was working in his office, and Nico paused in the hallway on his way to set coffee down, and froze as the Tie Man was hovering in the doorway, and turned to frown at him.

“Ah,” Logan said, turning back to Thomas, “Nico is here- and judging by the fact that he is currently staring at the mirror, I am going to gather that he can see me,”

Thomas froze, and Virgil shot up immediately, grabbing Thomas’ shoulder and staring to hiss catastrophes to him, so Janus popped up to drag Virgil back by the hood like a hissing cat- to which Janus hissed back- and held him back by one arm while two gently set themselves on Thomas’ shoulders, “I would say everything will be alright, but, ah- he is staring at us,”

Thomas turned to look at Nico, and Logan internally began debating escape methods before turning to glare at Virgil, who hissed louder- he was practically a human silhouette of black and purple with two bright eyes and _teeth_ staring out at them, “ _ **NO**_!” he insisted, “ _ **He’s going to hate us forever he’s never going to talk to us ever again he-**_ ”

“Thomas,” Nico said gently, and Virgil shook harder in Janus’ arms- another had come out to hug him, to which Virgil was leaning in to, which Logan pretended not to see, “are you alright, love?”

Thomas took a deep breath, while at the same time flinging his arm back to attempt to lean on the back of the chair casually, and it almost fell before Janus sprouted another arm to catch it,

“Do keep your head on your shoulders, Thomas,”

Thomas grinned as Janus pushed the chair back up and said, his heart thumping in his throat, “I can explain,”

Nico laughed a little, “I noticed,” he said, and Virgil started shaking harder, “Your ghost friends are more than welcome, at least to me,”

“My...” Thomas blinked, and Janus set a hand on his shoulder, and Thomas smiled like he was relieved, “That. Yes, that. Yeah, they’re... Helpful,”

“I noticed!” Nico laughed again, setting his coffee down, and said, “I’ll be back after my shift, if they have a way to, I’d love to talk to them more. If they want,” he kissed Thomas’ forehead, then his lips, “When I said I love you, I meant everything that comes with that,”

Thomas nodded rapidly, Janus’ grip getting harder to focus on with Virgil radiating anxiety, “Yeah,”

“ _Yeah_!?” Virgil repeated as the door closed on the bottom floor. Thomas had his head in his hands, and Remus was very unhelpfully standing on the bed and kicking shit around as he loudly shouted various ways he would “teach that twink a good time”.

“I know!” Thomas repeated, and Roman huffed from his spot on the floor,

“We’re _fucked_!”

“That’s the plan!” Remus shouted, Thomas dug his fingers through his hair, and Virgil shrieked obscenities at the Duke, though Logan hummed,

“His interest in you doesn’t seem to have waned,” he said, “We can work with this,”

“Work with this!?” Virgil shrieked, “How is it any better if he thinks we’re fucking _haunted_!?”

Patton nervously raised his hand, “He loves us, Virge,” he smiled nervously, “He loves Thomas- we’ll be okay,”

“And I don’t know about you,” Janus said, one arm still around Virgil and the other gently stroking his hair, which Virgil pretended not to notice despite leaning into it, “that sounds a better excuse than explaining...” he motioned vaguely to the group with his free hand, “... _This_ ,”

Logan frowned, tilting his head a bit, “.... Is that? Self deprecation?”

“It better not be!” Patton insisted, “No self deprecation, there, Mister!”

Janus grumbled, “ _Fine_ , fine! But it does seem like that’s the best explanation,”

“Indeed,” Logan said, “seeing as we barley understand these things ourselves, that seems acceptable,”

Thomas tilted his head up, looking at the group through his fingers, “... Really?” he asked, and Logan nodded,

“Absolutely. He seems willing to speak with us- not just you, all of us,”

Virgil hummed, and Remus popped up behind Thomas, “Can I draw penises at him? Please please _please_?”

Thomas groaned, “I mean. I can’t stop you, can I?”

“That you cannot, Thomathy,”

“Fucking...” he motioned towards Remus vaguely, and Patton made a squeaky noise. He’d been getting used to them getting over the Catholic Guilt™ but that didn’t mean he didn’t still jump whenever Thomas did something like that, “Yeah, go ahead,”

Remus squealed with delight, and sunk down, popping up again on the roof outside the window and just kept shrieking profanities.

Janus hummed, “Letting him out is something I’m regretting every day,”

Roman laughed bitterly, “No, really!?” he grumbled, “Prick,”

“God don’t give him ideas,” Virgil groaned, leaning in to Janus’ touch again, “I still don’t like you,” he grumbled.

“Hate you too, Emo,”

Roman made gagging noises, before standing and throwing his arms out dramatically. He’d shifted his jacket and pants to the jacket and a skirt, and he spun a bit before pointing at Thomas, “We now have the chance to win over your _Amor des Amors_ , and we are _not_ going to squander it!”

Virgil blinked, “Oh for fuck’s sake-”

“We can plan a grand gala!” the room started to shift, and it almost succeeded before Remus popped back up to groan,

“Ugh, just go on AdamandEve and buy something nice-”

Roman shoved him back with one hand, “Or, perhaps roses-” he shrieked, and turned to stare at his brother, “Did you just fucking _bite_ me!?”

Remus licked blood off his lips, “Yup!”

“I despise you, you Malevolent Malcontent,”

The twins held eye contact for nearly a whole minute, Remus actually not blinking, before Remus reached up, tore his eyes out of his skull and said, “I just think we should fuck his brains out,” and ducked out before Roman could even grab is sword.

Thomas had his face in his hands, “ _Ew_?” he said, looking up at the group and shouting, “Ew!”

Virgil nodded rapidly, “Ew,”

Janus hummed, “Gross,”

“... That was not anatomically accurate,” Logan muttered, and at the stares he frowned, “What? It wasn’t,”

Nico frowned at the large paper of anatomically accurate drawings of penises.

A lot of them.

Thomas groaned at the sight, and set the tea down, smiling apologetically at Nico, “Remus is... Remus,” he said, motioning to the drawings, “I couldn’t stop him even if I wanted to. Don’t worry he’s harmless... Mostly,”

Nico quirked an eyebrow, “Mostly?”

“Mostly... But he won’t harm you, don’t worry,” he grimaced, “He likes you too much, and I don’t know whether that’s a good thing or not,”

“Huh,” Nico picked up the paper, “He’s actually really talented-”

Thomas choked on his tea, setting it down, “No. No, he’s not. He’s just good at shouting the loudest,”

“Oh, come now,” Nico smiled nervously, “He could make serious bank on Twitter!”

Thomas frowned, “... _Yeah_ ,”

“So, Remus is one of your ghost friends?”

“Yeah, he calls himself The Duke,” he motioned to the whiteboard, “I gave them that, but they might just. Try to talk through me?”

“Like... Possession?” Nico asked, and Thomas hummed,

“I guess,” and he frowned as the green marker got picked up, and in large, messy font, Remus said,

_Thomathyyyy why haven’t you let me live my selling porn dreams_

Thomas groaned, dropping his face into his hands, “I have a _job_ , Remus,”

 _I don’t! Will you leave me to suffer under the_ ~~ _wait_~~ ~~_wiegt_~~ _heavyness of capitalism?_

Nico laughed, but Thomas just kept his face in his hands, “Let the others talk, Rem!”

The whiteboard was wiped off, and at the least Thomas seemed relieved. He frowned at the spae across the room, “... You sure?” he nodded slowly, and reached a hand out, seeming to intertwine his fingers with someone.

It was... _Something_ to watch Thomas’ body language completely shift. He was an excellent actor, but it was different to know someone else was at play here.

Nico would think it scary if he didn’t know, like, 3 DID systems.

“Hey,” the ghost possessing Thomas said, his voice like Thomas’ but much deeper, “We, uh... Don’t do this a lot? Like. Outside of emergencies? But writing is. It feels wrong? Like. To not talk to you. With my mouth? ... With... Thomas’ mouth- My name is Virgil,”

“Nico,” he said, and Virgil laughed a bit,

“Yeah, I... Yeah I know,” he grinned nervously, “I’m glad you don’t hate us,”

“Got no reason to,” Nico said, “You’re part of Thomas’ life, you’re worth my time,”

Virgil blinked. It was a sight to see on Thomas’ face, genuine surprise over being loved. He’d seen it before, the first time he’d said “I love you,”. Thomas had been worried he hadn’t meant it- a thought that made Nico’s heart hurt. If Nico didn’t know it wasn’t Thomas, he wouldn’t have thought to look for differences.

But it _was_ different- Virgil’s eyes widened a bit more, his shoulders curling up more, and he let his head fall forward, laughing a bit, “Fuck, dude,” he said, “You really are like. A person? Like a person who _cares_ ,”

“I do my best to be,”

Virgil laughed a bit, “... Huh,” was all he said, and the shift was obvious again, Thomas shaking a bit,

“Wow,” he said, “Hate that sensation,” he turned to the space beside him, “Is that how it feels all the time? .... Holy shit, Virge,” he turned back to Nico with a nervous smile, “He’s... Anxious. A bit,”

“I noticed,” he reached over to take Thomas’ hand, “Thank you for letting him talk to me- he seems lovely,”

Thomas grinned, “He is!” he turned to the room, “Oh, guys, are you sure?” he turned to smile nervously at Nico, then back to the others, “Rock paper scissors, gentlemen!”

Nico laughed a bit, “I take it they all want to do that?” and Thomas nodded, “Roman’s up first,”

There was the taking of the hand, and Roman immediately turned to lean on his hand, elbow on his knee, and grinned at Nico, “Hey,”

Nico blinked slowly, “... Hey?”

“I!” he stated, standing up and moving to the centre of the room, “It is a shame that you can’t see our very gorgeous outfits that I, the brilliant Prince Roman, helped create, but alas!” he threw his hand back, and Nico chuckled a little, “Regardless, Thomas’ _starlight incarné-”_ ah, _this_ was Mr. Nickname “- I wish to let you know that your presence in Thomas’ life has not gone unnoticed by me! I am so very glad that we ran into you in the food court! You are an absolute darling, and I just...” the flamboyance deflated a little, and he turned nervously to Nico, “And, uh... Thank you. For loving him. Us... Genuinely,”

Nico smiled, “It’s hard not to!”

“... Yeah...” Roman frowned, and he smiled shakily at him, “Yeah,”

And he was gone. Thomas sighed, “I think... Let me just-” he leaned against the wall, “Just pass along what everyone else is saying?” he groaned, sliding down the wall a bit, and Nico lept across the room to take his hands, “We can try again another day, T. It’s okay,”

Thomas leaned his head forward onto Nico’s chest, “Promise?”

“Promise,”

“Mmm,” Thomas just kind of sat there, letting Nico cuddle him closer, “I love you,”

“I love you, too,”


End file.
